Duo Corda
by ifan13
Summary: Rose finds out why Time Lords have two hearts and what makes her Time Lord so different from all the rest.


A/N: This was written from a prompt that I saw on "The Bunnies have a Phone Box" (DWplotbunnies). It read -_ There is a reason he has two hearts: one is of solid gold, which gives hope and peace to millions. The other is black and as cold as coal, filled with all the rage of a man with no home or hope._ This is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy it - it's not really in the style of my usual fics, but this is what got stuck in my head and it needed to be written down. Oh, and the title is "Two Hearts" in Latin.

**Disclaimer: **No, I do not own Doctor Who, but I'm flattered that you thought I did ...

**Duo Corda**

Rose was bored. _Really_ bored. The Doctor had run out to get her a birthday present and Rose had been left alone with the TARDIS. Usually, this would have been fine, but they had just had a really rough adventure and the TARDIS was too tired to talk – hence Rose's boredom.

In her desperation, Rose decided to visit the library. Perhaps she could find _something_ interesting in there, although at the moment, she really doubted it. But she _did_ find something incredibly interesting. As soon as Rose walked into the library, she heard this singing coming from the farthest corner. She walked towards it and on the floor, she found a little golden book with words on it that even the TARDIS couldn't seem to translate. Intrigued, Rose picked it up and sat down in an arm chair to study it.

She found that the more she stared at it, the louder that strange song got. It sounded vaguely familiar. She began to hum along to it and as she did, the writing became clearer – it said "Duo Corda."

Rose opened the book and began to read.

_ "Millions of years ago, before the Time Lords were Time Lords, they were very much like humans. They had short, fleeting lives and so, lived every day to the fullest. We looked upon them fondly and smiled at this little race for we had great plans for them._

_ But this race discovered the untempered schism and time began to flow through their veins. Living in such close proximity to undiluted time caused this race to evolve. The first thing that began to evolve was their minds. They became utterly brilliant – too brilliant for their own good, for they did not have the wisdom to temper that brilliance. Their new logical brains examined themselves and found only one fault – the heart. Their brilliant analytical minds saw the emotion in the heart as a weakness and so, they isolated their hearts and hid them in the darkness until their hearts became cold and hard and of stone. And we wept, for in their foolishness, they condemned the universe._

_ We watched them forlornly as they grew in coldness. However, watching, we noticed that they were still evolving. Their bodies were changing in so many ways. They developed two livers and an incredible tolerance to radiation. We saw another chance to save this race so that this race, in turn, could save the universe, and we took it. We gave them a second heart, a special heart, one to counteract the icy rock that their first ones had become. We believed that they would accept it to fill the void that their stone hearts created. Our plans were again on track and the fate of the universe seemed secure. And so, we rejoiced._

_ But again, the Time Lords (as they now were called) saw the heart as a weakness and attempted to turn it to stone just as they had their first heart. Because _we_ had given them this second heart, it was special and could not be turned to stone. Nevertheless, they were able to en cote it with ice, making it dormant. We despaired, for once again, the foolish Time Lords had doomed the universe._

_ We feared for the universe for another reason as well. The Time Lords' stone hearts would not be receptive to love and warmth but they could soak up hatred and anger. If they were set loose on the universe with one unfeeling heart and one black one, they would wreck complete and utter havoc. Fortunately, the Time Lords had no wish to interfere with the rest of the universe – they had no desire to dirty their hands._

_ We watched and despaired for years upon years, but then, our attention was caught by a Time Lord when he stole a TARDIS with the intention of traveling the universe. We looked into this strange Time Lord and were amazed by what we saw – one heart of stone, like all Time Lords, but unlike the rest of the Time Lords, his second heart was bright and vibrant and golden. We rejoiced for in this Time Lord, we again had hope for the salvation of the universe._

_ This Time Lord traveled the worlds and spread hope. As was inevitable, his stone heart soaked up the hatred and anger he encountered and it became black. Nevertheless, we did not worry, for his golden heart was so powerful, it seemed as though no darkness could touch it._

_ Years and years later, however, we began to worry for our Time Lord because the last great Time War had ended and he was the last of his kind – he was alone. Even with his golden heart, he was in danger of falling into darkness. _

_ Then a Rose came into his life and she saved him. She saved him so well that when the time came to choose between Earth and the Universe, he couldn't choose._

_ The girl, the Rose, found us – she looked into us and we looked into her. Together, we looked back into time and created ourselves – we created us, the Bad Wolf to watch over our Time Lord, and we created us, Rose, to save him again and again. To save the man with one heart as black and cold as coal, filled with the rage of a man with no hope or home, and a greater heart of solid gold, that gives hope and peace to millions. _

_ We created the Doctor and Rose to be together forever, to save the universe and themselves."_

Rose closed the book as it began to glow golden and watched as it disappeared.

_I was created for him? That means, we really do belong together – we really are perfect for each other. Oh, Doctor-_

Just then, the Doctor walked in. "Rose, did ya know that I walked into the TARDIS_ three hours ago_? I've been looking for you for three hours because I didn't think you could possibly be in the _library_! I mean, are you actually reading? You, Rose Tyler, reading a book-"

Rose looked up at him, a tear running down her cheek. The Doctor ran to her and put his arms around her.

"I was just kidding Rose – honest! You're a great reader – don't cry! I just-"

"Silly," Rose laughed through her tears, "that's not why I'm crying."

"Then why?" he asked, bewildered.

"Because it just hit me that this is right. You and me, together. It's so right, no matter what anyone says. And I wouldn't have it any other way."

The Doctor placed a kiss on her head in silent agreement. They sat there, in each other's arms, the Doctor and his Rose, Rose and her Doctor.

And we rejoiced, for the fate of the universe was finally set and it was good.

**A/N: **Like I said, not like my usual fics, but I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!


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